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Your Body is Genius. Here Are 7 Ways to Access its Deep Intel
There’s a powerful intelligence flowing through our body’s systems. We can access its intel to cultivate inner and outer peace and resilience.
Your body is genius. Mindful. Wise. Adaptive. Dynamic. Discerning. Intuitive. It bears rich and powerful renewable inner resources. An unfathomable depth and breadth of intel is alive and accessible within us.
This intel holds an enormous present moment potential. It’s both our biological gift and psychological challenge. When we ruminate on a past event or experience, our thoughts can get ‘stuck’ and our brain circuitry locked. When worry spins a future-cast of our worst fears, our nervous system can perceive danger cues, registering a state of anticipatory dread that triggers a cascade of stress chemistry. Sometimes this cascade is a split second event from which we return to baseline and carry on, and sometimes, this cascade is a chronic state of stress arousal that doesn’t resolve in the usual 20–30 minute stress recovery window. Our capacity to notice much about our present moment experience becomes compromised.
When we miss the moment, we miss the intel.
By harnessing our body’s deep intelligence, we can develop a right here-right now sense of presence that allows us to access and cultivate our inner resources in the moment. Learning to bring gentle attention to our inner experience can allow us to give attention to the outer world with more nuance and understanding.
Here are 7 ways to that help us turn awareness and attention into meaningful action and generative change.
1. Practice compassionate curiosity.
What we practice grows. Neurons that ‘fire together wire together’. And…neurons that ‘fire apart wire apart’. The brain’s neuroplasticity is its capacity to change and be literally shaped by experience.
Behind the middle of your forehead — the mid pre-frontal cortex — are the potential capacities for emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility, fear modulation, compassion, intuition, even morality. This potentiality lies in our intentional reflection, our mindful awareness, and our relationships. This intentional process integrates the brain through linking…